Maternal mental illness during pregnancy and the postpartum is a major public health problem

Maternal mental illness during pregnancy and the postpartum is a major public health problem that requires urgent attention (Bauer et al., 2014; NICE, 2014).

A large body of evidence has documented the negative impact and long term effects that perinatal mental health problems have on women, children, and families (see Pariante et al., 2014). In the UK the economic costs of untreated perinatal mental health problems are estimated at ś8.1 billion for each annual birth cohort (Bauer et al., 2014). Psychological interventions for the treatment of perinatal mental health problems are strongly indicated (NICE, 2014), with such indications more pertinent in the perinatal context given the potential risks to foetal and infant development associated with psychotropic medication exposure (Waters et al., 2014). Yet the evidence base for psychological interventions for the treatment of perinatal mental illness is underdeveloped and requires investment (NICE, 2014). This application proposes to address this gap in the evidence base and devise and work toward developing the efficacy of two psychological interventions for the treatment of mental illness during pregnancy and the postpartum.